Mathilde De Rothschild
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Charlotte de Rothschild Adrian Farmer the SONGS OF MATHILDE DE ROTHSCHILD 20 NI5903/4 1 A Japanese Journey NI6190 Songs by 19th and early 20th century Japanese poets and composers sung in Japanese “A Japanese Journey – Nihon no tabiji” reflects the fact that over the last twenty years, I have spent many months touring Japan. I have been lucky enough to glimpse the hidden Japan away from the vast cities and to sense the true culture and history of the land. These songs cover a wide range from a child’s simple wonder of a red dragonfly to the remembrance of a first love. As in the great Schubert songs, so these songs hide a depth of meaning. An album of all-Japanese traditional songs is not an unusual thing for a Japanese artist to do in Japan, but the fact that I am a foreigner may give them a different slant.” Fairy Songs NI6193 “I have always believed in magic and have loved tales of mystical beings ever since I was little. I have been gathering this collection of fairy songs together for a while now; the harp was the perfect instrument to accompany them and Danielle has skilfully adapted the piano accompaniments. I have chosen to use settings of poetry by late 19th and 20th Century composers. Some of these were no doubt inspired by the pre-Raphaelite movement of Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as was Stanford in his setting of John Keats’ La Belle Dame sans Merci. Man has illuminated his landscapes with cities and there are many less wild places left, but tread lightly and just maybe you will catch a glimpse out of the corner of your eye, or hear a faint tinkling laugh, because I am sure fairies are still out there somewhere…” Full track details www.wyastone.co.uk 2 NI5903/4 19 Adrian Farmer trained as an The Songs of accompanist at the Royal Northern College Mathilde de Rothschild of Music in Manchester from 1977, following a music degree at Birmingham (1832-1924) University. He first encountered Nimbus Records in 1979, when he was invited to Charlotte de Rothschild, soprano record for them. In the mid 1980s he Adrian Farmer, piano became Nimbus’s Music Director, joining the Board of Directors. Through the 1990s Adrian spanned both sides of Nimbus’s business interests; maintaining the creative CD 1 German Lieder focus for Nimbus Records and coordinating Sechs Lieder (pub. 1876) the international marketing activity of the 1 I Wandl’ ich in dem Wald (Heine) 1.38 company’s optical disc technology division. 2 II Das Meer erstrahlt im Sonnenschein (Heine) 1.03 Adrian has made several recordings for 3 III Die Sterne durch den Himmel gehn (Reinick) 1.35 Nimbus with other artists: Nimbus’s founder 4 IV Weine nicht (Volkslieder) 3.43 the bass Shura Gehrman, tenor Dennis 5 V Du bist wie eine Blume (Heine) 1.46 O’Neill, pianists Nina Walker, Martin Jones, 6 VI Fahr wohl o Vöglein (Rückert) 2.17 and a treasured moment recording Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye with legendary pianist Vlado 7 Feuillets d’Album Op.2 no.6, Mazurka 2.04 Perlemuter. 8 Auf den Bergen (Kugler) unpub. 1.45 9 Das flotte Herz (Müller) 2.57 10 O sage nicht! (Binding) unpub. 1.31 11 Der Komet (Amadei) 2.01 12 So war die Sonne scheinet (Rückert) 1.39 13 Die Gletscher leuchten (Bodenstedt) 1.56 14 Komm! Geh’ mit mir in’s Waldesgrün (Redwitz-Schmölz) 2.16 15 Am See (Amadei) 2.05 Recorded by Nimbus Records at Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, U.K. 16 Seitdem du mich verlassen (Anon.) unpub. 2.00 German Lieder : August 1-3, 2012, French Mélodies : August 29-31, 2012 © 2013 Charlotte de Rothschild 17 Feuillets d’Album Op.2 no.1, Nocturne 3.11 Released under exclusive licence by Wyastone Estate Limited 18 NI5903/4 3 Sechs Lieder (pub.1897) released on the Regent Record label, 18 I Schmerzvergessen (Storm) 1.44 with the Ely Cathedral Girl’s Choir and 19 II Nicht nur, wenn uns’re Pfade sich vereinen (Bethusy-Huc) 1.48 Selwyn College Choir. 20 III Ein Herz in mir! (Anon.) 1.00 Charlotte is a Nimbus Alliance artist 21 IV Wiegenlied (Fallersleben/Anon) 3.38 and has a 6 CD contract with them. 22 V Es grüsset dich aus fernem Land (Tharau) 1.59 After performing in Japan for over 23 VI Als ich dich kaum geseh’n (Storm) 1.22 twenty years, she recorded a CD of 24 Feuillets d’Album Op.2 no.3, Souvenir 2.21 classical Japanese songs called A Japanese Journey (Nimbus Alliance Zwölf Lieder (pub. c.1885 - 1890) NI6190) and a second will be released 25 I Stamm und Ranke (Wickenburg-Almasy) 1.54 in 2013. She was the first gai-jin 26 II Weiss bist du (Anon./from Danish) 1.44 (foreigner) to have recorded this music 27 III O wie beneid’ ich deine Seele (Dingelstedt) 3.16 in the native tongue and as such was 28 IV Wenn du ein Herz gefunden (Träger) 2.38 hailed as a pioneer. She has promoted 29 V Wann zwei sich lieben (Jordan) 1.27 the beauty of these songs all over the 30 VI Glaube mir nicht (Pavlova/Tolstoy) 1.43 world, accompanied by the harp, piano 31 VII Fels und Moos (Anon.) 1.53 or orchestra; a 20-minute arrangement 32 VIII Bei Dir! (Anon.) 1.46 of Kohsaku Yamada songs was 33 IX Sommerfaden (Frey) 1.23 commissioned especially for Charlotte 34 X Wenn meine Wimpern (Anon./Jensen)) 1.26 and the English Chamber Orchestra in a 35 XI Ich muss dein gedenken (Bodenstedt) 1.58 XII Puisque vous êtes revenue (Heimgekehrt) – see French Mélodies concert held at the Barbican and she has since performed it in the Czech Total playing time 70.16 Republic and Japan. She devised and performed quite a number of the CD 2 French Mélodies Japanese songs as well as her family 1 Romance, parle moi (Lamartine) unpub. 2.23 songs in a 90-minute television 2 Bluette (Collin) 1.49 documentary for NHK TV called 3 Appelle-moi ton âme (Lauzières) 2.58 Rothschild Passions. Future CD 4 Près du lilas (Federman) 2.25 releases include An Intimate Recital of 5 Coquetterie (Lauzières) 2.49 Schumann Lieder and a CD combining 6 C’etait en Avril (Pailleron) 2.14 the delights of the Livre d’Or with Family Connections. 4 NI5903/4 17 7 Quand vous me montrez (Coppée) unpub. 2.49 Charlotte de Rothschild studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and at the 8 Romance Magyare (Collin) 2.30 Royal College of Music in London. With her wide knowledge of the song repertoire, from different eras, countries and genres, she has created some wonderful themed programmes; the 9 Mazurka 1.42 best known being the Family Connections programme which traces the musical history of her 10 Vous avez beau faire et beau dire (Coppée) 3.31 forebears with music by, and anecdotes about, the composers who were friends, teachers or 11 Les papillons (Gautier) 2.16 ancestors of the Rothschild family during the 19th and 20th Centuries. Charlotte has presented 12 Le rossignol (Laprade) 2.04 this programme over the world and in 2013, will do so again in Singapore, Zurich and Tokyo. 13 La voix qui dit je t’aime (Blet) unpub. 5.32 Her on-going research led to the discovery of a musical autograph book, started by a previous 14 Si mes vers avaient des ailes (Hugo) 2.38 Charlotte de Rothschild in 1827, and in 2010 Charlotte collaborated with Professors Philip 15 Charmeuse (Barbier) 4.04 Gossett and Francesco Izzo, both well-known musicologists, in performances of music taken 16 Danziam, valse chantée (Lauzières) 2.43 from this Rothschild Livre d’Or. Professor Gossett’s research on the material has yielded a 17 Waltz unpub. 1.24 wealth of new knowledge and material and they shared their findings at the 2011 American Musicological Society conference in San Francisco in November. 18 Souvenir (Musset) 2.16 19 Si j’etais rayon (Collin) 2.03 Other themes presented in major concert halls or Festivals include A Bouquet of Flower Songs 20 Je n’ose pas (Dufrene) 2.16 (arranged by the season) with which Charlotte toured Japan and India in the Spring of 2012, 21 Puisque vous êtes revenue (Collin) 1.50 Women of the Old Testament (with harpsichord and piano accompaniments) that she devised for 22 Enfant rêve encore (Hugo) 2.53 the B’nai Brith Music Festival, A Woman’s Lot (a humorous look at the passage of life) which she created for the National Federation of Women's Institute’s 75th anniversary and A Magical 23 Feuillets d’Album Op.2 no.2 3.40 Evening (a collection of British songs recently released on the Nimbus label N16193 as Fairy 24 Chanson du pêcheur (Gautier) 3.41 Songs with harp accompaniment. In 2012, Charlotte toured Boston, Yale and London with a 25 Tristesse (Mme la Comtesse S. d’Arbouville) 2.22 new harp and voice programme, created to compliment the art exhibition Making History, from 26 Le vallon natal (Laprade) 3.59 the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and including songs that reflect Antiquarian interest in England in the 18th, 19th and early 20th Centuries. During the same U.S. tour, she premièred Total playing time 70.41 a further programme at the National Gallery of Art in Washington given in honour of the Joan Mirò exhibition. Photographs Front cover, Mathilde’s locket Charlotte’s oratorio career has been extensive; she was a soloist for the Bach Choir with Sir Back cover, Portrait of Caroline Julie Anselme von Rothschild (1830-1907) and her younger sister David Willcocks in Exeter, Wells and Truro Cathedrals, in King’s College, Cambridge and at Hannah Mathilde (1832-1924) by M.